It’s Tax Day!

Member Group : Commonwealth Foundation

Commonwealth Foundation
Contact: John Bouder, 570-490-1042, [email protected]

Americans’ Total Tax Burden Is Twice the Combined GDPs of Mexico, Canada
Pennsylvanians Face 15th-Highest State & Local Burden

April 18, 2017, Harrisburg, Pa.—This year’s late tax filing deadline may have delayed Pennsylvanians’ tax pain, but it hasn’t alleviated it. In state and local taxes alone, residents of the commonwealth shoulder an astounding $4,589 per-person burden, or more than $18,000 per family of four.

Add in federal taxes, and the numbers are even more shocking. This year, Americans will pay $5.1 trillion in federal, state, and local taxes, according to the Tax Foundation. That’s twice the gross domestic products of Canada ($1.5 trillion) and Mexico ($1 trillion) combined.

To add insult to injury, the cost of compliance is staggering: "Americans will spend more than 8.9 billion hours complying with IRS tax filing requirements in 2016," says the Tax Foundation.

Governor Wolf’s proposed state budget seeks to increase the tax burden on Pennsylvanians by $1 billion or $315 per family of four. Meanwhile, the House Budget would not increase taxes.

"Pennsylvania’s population shrank last year for the first time in more than three decades," commented Bob Dick, senior policy analyst with the Commonwealth Foundation. "To attract residents and job creators, lawmakers should reject tax increases and reduce wasteful spending."

"Pennsylvanians want to build a better future for themselves and their families, not devote more of their lives to feeding government’s overspending appetite at the local, state, and national levels," Dick continued.

Bob Dick and other Commonwealth Foundation experts are available for comment. Please contact John Bouder at 570-490-1042 or [email protected] to schedule an interview.

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